For nearly 50 years, the U.S. has followed an agricultural policy of showering farmers with subsidies and encouraging them to use plenty of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. U.S. farmers are among the most productive in the world, but their techniques are harming taxpayers and the environment. Chemical runoff is polluting groundwater. At the same time, rich Government subsidies that encourage farmers to devote too much land to a single crop have contributed to topsoil erosion. American agricultural policy should be changed to support "environmentally benign" farming methods, declared a study published last week by the National Academy of Sciences. The report...
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